University
of California at Berkeley Professor H. Morse Stephens wrote this article
for the April 18, 1908, San Francisco Examiner to celebrate the rebirth
and "upbuilding" of San Francisco following the Great Earthquake and Fire.

Unfortunately,
the vast number of documents collected by the committee cannot be found
at the University of California.

History
has not favorably treated conclusions Professor Stephens drew in this article.
The Money Panic of 1907 was partially blamed on a declining stock market
fueled by the sale of blue-chip stocks at a loss by insurance companies
to pay San Francisco fire insurance claims.

Bubonic
plague had broken out here, and news of it was, in 1907, suppressed by
local newspapers, though a campaign of trapping rats
was in full swing. It was generally felt that mention of the plague would
drive away Eastern capital so desperately needed to rebuild San Francisco.

Professor
Stephens also concluded that the loss of life from the earthquake had been
grossly exaggerated.

HOW
THE HISTORY OF THE DISASTER IS
BEING MADEBY
HENRY MORSE STEPHENS

Those
who dwell in the city of San Francisco and in whole area affected by the
great earthquake felt from the first that they were living through an historic
epoch and that the eyes of the world were fixed upon them. As the great
fire spread, even those who lost their homes and saw the city of their
love being consumed by the flames, realized that they were in the presence
of one of the most tremendous conflagrations ever known and felt in the
very magnitude of the disaster the realization of the fact that its magnitude
gave it a permanent place in history.

As
the days went by, after the fire ceased, the people of San Francisco had
full evidence in the columns of the newspapers of the wide extent of interest
taken in all parts of the world in the way in which they faced their crisis,
And that universal interest was not simply curiosity. The sympathy of the
world was speedily shown in the measures taken for the relief of the sufferers
and the refugees. Never perhaps since international charity began with
the help sent to the people of Lisbon after the great earthquake of 1755
was there such a generous outpouring of relief and such a widespread expression
of active sympathy.

DISASTER
IS HISTORY MAKING

The
catastrophe was historic. The universal interest and sympathy was historic.
The problem of meeting the task of existence when suddenly deprived or
the ordinary machinery of civilization was historic. It was universally
felt in San Francisco that both contemporaries and posterity had a right
to expect an authentic record of so historic a crisis and this feeling
culminated in the resolution proposed by Judge W. W. Morrow, United States
Circuit Judge, at the Fort Mason conference on April 25th, exactly one
week after the earthquake, that a committee on history should be appointed.
In pursuance of this resolution John S. Drum was appointed chairman of
the committee on history and given power to select his associates.

In
the meantime, on the other side of the bay, Professor H. Morse Stephens
of the University of California had already conceived the idea of collecting
all Possible historical material regarding the great crisis and had suggested
to Governor Pardee in Oakland that steps should be taken at once in that
direction.

President
Benjamin Ide Wheeler knew of this ambition and suggested the name of Professor
Stephens to Mr. Drum. Mr. Drum had already selected his associates; Edward
F. Moran of the city Civil Service Commission, Richard C. Harrison and
Clement Bennett, United States Court reporter.

With
this committee Professor Stephens now associated himself, and within ten
days of the earthquake, a plan of work was laid out and the collection
of material began.

PERSONAL
EXPERIENCES SOUGHT

Since
memory is treacherous the first resolution of the committee was to gather
together as soon as possible a record of the personal experiences of as
many people as possible during the past ten days with a full realization
of the fact that although the memories of individuals might lapse here
and there into inaccuracy and might swell here and there into exaggerations,
yet out of the collation of hundreds of personal experiences the truth
might be reached, as it can be reached through the cross-examination
of many witnesses in a trial at law.

The
next step was to secure the personal statements of individuals and groups
of individuals who had taken an active part in the proceedings of the critical
period. Then came the securing of the documents which recorded the various
steps taken for the government and relief of the citizens of San Francisco.
But this was not enough. Behind statements of fact and recollections recorded
while memory was still comparatively fresh, was the vast mass of impressions
of proceedings and doings day by day, which under our modern civilization
finds expression in the daily press.

The
committee therefore resolved to purchase files of about eight hundred leading
newspapers of the United States, not only for the information printed in
them by correspondents, but still more for a sense of the atmosphere of
the time, which it is the pride of the modern newspaper man to reproduce
with skill and accuracy.

HISTORY-MAKING
ON A LARGE SCALE

Never
before has such an attempt been made at the collection of historical material
on a large scale for a full record of a contemporary historic event. The
resources of civilization made possible such an attempt. In earlier days
men, conscious of the significance of the period in which they lived, have
sometimes attempted to collect every scrap of printed news and related
argument. Notably was this the case with Mr. Thommason, who made the great
collection for the history of London during the Civil War in England, which
rests under his name in the British Museum.

More
than one contemporary of the French revolution tried to make a similar
collection of printed material. H. H. Bancroft got much of his data for
the pioneer period of the History of California by securing personal accounts
of their experiences from thousands of the pioneers, and he made a particular
attempt to cover the history of the vigilance committees in San Francisco
by obtaining personal narratives from participants in their work. Since
newspapers have become the reflectors of public opinion many collections
of newspapers bearing upon a particular epoch or a particular subject have
been made.

Collections
of documents have always formed the basis of recorded history and have
been made in all periods and in all countries. But the Earthquake History
Committee of San Francisco have tried to combine all these things.

HISTORY
TO RELATE FACTS AND FLAVOR

Its
members realized from the beginning that it was their duty not only to
relate facts, but also to render faithfully the atmosphere of the time.
They desired further not only to record events and to reflect the pressing
flavor of a critical time, but to bring out the human interest of their
story. For while the events of April and May, 1906, in San Francisco are
of surpassing interest from the way in which the community as a whole met
its problems, the part of the individual in seeing and feeling what was
going on around him was not to be neglected.

With
a clear vision of the difficulties of their task yet at the same time with
a feeling of the advantage that their early appointment gave them for the
collection of historical material, they set about their work. Their main
difficulty lay in the magnitude of the field and the complications it presented
and the main advantage in the fact that they were appointed early enough
to catch much material which would otherwise have disappeared.

While
the replies from those who had stayed in San Francisco came in response
to the committee's requests, from the columns of its eight hundred files
of newspapers came the tales of refugees from the city as well as many
letters to friends printed in newspapers all over the United States.

THOUSANDS
OF STORIES COLLECTED

In
all about thirty thousand narratives of personal experiences were collected,
all of them written before the story had become entirely untrustworthy,
and all but three full of actuality. Particularly interesting were the
personal experiences of the actual shock of earthquake, which, as collated,
show not only the various ways in which the shock affected different buildings
and different parts of the city, but also the psychological effect upon
individuals of varying age and temperament.

While
by means of circulars an organized attempt as being made to collect the
personal experiences of individuals, a special effort was also made to
obtain as quickly as possible personal statements from conspicuous actors
in the handling of the crisis. In collecting these statements the services
of Clement Bennett were invaluable. Most of the leading men in the city
were interviewed by him, and sometimes more than once, and it is not necessary
to point out the immense importance of these personal narratives in interpreting
and explaining many circumstances that were but briefly covered in the
documents or in the newspapers,

Mr.
Bennett's knowledge of the public officials of the city made him at this
moment a most valuable collaborator. Through the Police Commission, he
obtained statements from members of the police force of their experience
during the critical days; through the Fire Commissioners he obtained the
statements from the members of the fire department, without which the history
of the progress of the fire could never have been written; and through
the City Superintendent of Schools he obtained statements from the city
teachers of unique interest and value.

SEARCH
FOR MATERIAL UNEQUALED

It
can safely be said that no such attempt to obtain prompt personal narratives
from participants and observers in a great historical crisis has ever been
made before and that the work of the Earthquake History Committee is unique
in its thoroughness and promptitude in this direction.

While
the efforts of the committee were unique in the search after personal experiences,
the members will recognized that such narratives could only give atmosphere,
interpretation and human interest and that the basis of their work must
be found in official and unofficial documents.

In
collecting these they had one supreme advantage. Rufus P. Jennings, the
secretary of the Committee of Fifty, and afterwards of the Committee of
Forty, organized his office most methodically from the very commencement.
Every scrap of paper that came into that office was preserved and classified;
every notice that went out was preserved in duplicate and nothing was permitted
to interfere with the keeping of an accurate collection of documentary
material.

This
great collection of material was handed over to the Earthquake History
Committee, and it is not too much to say that the accurate and careful
work of Mr. Jennings is the chief factor in making possible an accurate
account of the government of San Francisco during the days of crisis.

OFFICIALS
AID IN THE WORK

Outside
the sphere of the committee, however, lay much documentary material which
was diligently sought for by the committee and generously contributed by
its possessors. Mayor Schmitz was always ready to respond to all demands
for documents. Governor Pardee at Sacramento permitted a thorough examination
of the documentary material bearing on the crisis, which came to him as
Governor of the State of California, and allowed copies to be made of the
documents of most essential importance.

James
D. Phelan, as chairman of the Finance Committee, was always ready to give
information and assistance. General A. W. Greely encouraged the committee
and sent copies of his printed report. Colonel
Torney did even more than this and at great personal labor collected and
arranged all the documentary material dealing with the sanitary condition
of the city. Dr. [Edward T.] Devine and others engaged in the work of relief
aided in the work.

The
Berkeley Chamber of Commerce turned over all its papers, and a most curious
and valuable collection of assorted documents was entrusted to the committee
by Ross Morgan, who in the days of the emergency relief had charge or the
depot of supplies at the Ferry building. Here and there a document may
be missing, but upon the whole the collection of documents was brought
together in a thorough manner, and the thanks of the committee are due
to all those who so generously met its requests.

One
of the problems of the modern historian is the use of newspapers as historical
material. Ancient and Medieval writers of history were not troubled with
this problem. They used documents when they could find them and spiced
their information with imagination.

NEWSPAPERS
A GREAT FACTOR

Students
of ancient and Medieval history therefore and even of modern history down
to the nineteenth century took but little account of the newspaper as a
source of historical information. The problem was first developed on a
large scale with regard to the history of the French revolution, and the
absurdities or many of the accounts of that striking period are due to
the naive fashion in which many eloquent historians accepted newspaper
reports as authentic historical material.

Now
that the documents of the French revolution have been published, it is
easy to see that the newspapers of that time are invaluable for giving
atmosphere and the state of public opinion, but are most untrustworthy
in their record of facts. One of the greatest of living American historians,
James Ford Rhodes, has had to meet the problem on a large scale in his
"History of the United States from 1850 to 1877," and despite his sagacity
and skill, he has sometimes been misled even in the estimation of public
opinion by too great a reliance upon newspapers.

Yet
the modern newspaper obviously has an most important function in preserving
historical material and it can no longer be relegated to the position of
a mere indicator of public opinion, as must be done with the newspapers
of the French revolution and even if an historian can dare to use them,
yet its importance as a repository of historical information cannot be
ignored.

EIGHT
HUNDRED PAPERS COLLECTED

The
Earthquake History Committee deliberately went into the business of collecting
files of eight hundred newspapers, covering from April 18th to May 31,
1906, and accumulated more than a ton of them,. Never was time, money or
labor better expended, Without these files of newspapers the collection
of documents would have been incomplete, their interpretation would have
been erroneous, and the personal narratives would have been insufficient.

Mention
has already been made of the personal narratives of refugees contained
in the files of the newspapers and of the numerous private letters also
printed there, But now mention must be made of other sides of the importance
of newspapers in collecting material. Newspaper enterprise shone pre-eminent
during the critical days. The San Francisco "Daily News" got out the last
extras printed in the city while the fire was raging and got out the first
number published in the city after the fire.

The
newspaper men of San Francisco did honor to their profession both as collectors
of news to be sent out of the city and to be published in the city itself.
If nothing else has been proved by the collection of historical material
for a piece of contemporaneous history, one thing at least is certain,
that no historian of the twentieth century can afford to neglect the columns
of newspapers in the pursuit of his task.

PRESS
TELLS OF RELIEF WORK

From
the newspapers collected by the Earthquake History Committee can be gathered
the only authentic story of the collection of relief funds throughout the
United States; from them alone can be learned the American Civil War. The
modern newspaper has developed the collection of news into a science and
no longer looks upon its news columns as of trifling importance when compared
with its editorial opinions.

The
Associated Press is the most tremendous engine in the world for the collection
and dissemination of information, and its trained observers and writers
are the contemporary historians of to-day. Probably the most complete and
accurate history of the earthquake and fire in San Francisco and the events
that followed is now to be found in the story sent out day by day by the
Associated Press.

PRESS
OFTEN THE SOLE RECORD

Documents
further of the very greatest importance are given out to the press and
the originals are frequently lost, which makes these columns of the newspapers
the sole record that these documents existed, Public men explain their
views in the newspapers and the newspaper reporter is always on the hunt
for the local stories, So that the newspaper of to-day is not only an indicator
public opinion, but is also a collection of information.

The
Modern historian must continue to use newspapers for atmosphere and public
opinion, but he can no longer disregard them as sources for facts. It is
quite true that newspaper reports cannot be invariably regarded as facts
and that the equation of the newspaper itself must be known in estimating
the statements of facts, but all the same many facts and many documents
cannot be obtained elsewhere, and must therefore be sought in its pages,

It
is puerile to make fun of newspaper inaccuracies; of course the condition
of having to appear at a fixed time every day allows false reports and
false statements to slip in occasionally; but the aim of the newspaper
is to tell the truth, and though the statement can never stand against
an authentic document and often needs ratification before the thoroughness
of the sympathy expressed for San Francisco, and from them must come the
solid basis of general information. Of course they have to be carefully
scanned for the inevitable errors of hurried transmission and publication.

The
story of the fighting between the Italians and Chinese in Portsmouth Square
was a brilliant piece of imagination in the editorial rooms of a distant
city; the Cliff House did not slide into the Pacific ocean; and weird tales
of rapine and slaughter were served up for the satisfaction of an excited
public, that relished a tale of horror. But if cautiously handled by the
historian, and every historical writer who deals with the events of the
twentieth century should be a trained newspaper man, the columns of the
daily press must for all time to come be regarded as the main source of
authentic information.

This
account of the inception of the work of the Earthquake History Committee
and of the methods it pursued in collecting historical material must be
supplemented, though very briefly, by a word upon a means of obtaining
information, which was surely never attempted by a body of historians before.
The committee resolved to meet at regular intervals and to have as its
guests those who could throw light from personal knowledge and experience
upon its work.

BUSY
MEN ANSWER QUESTIONS

Over
the luncheon table and the dinner table many a difficult matter was cleared
up. Busy men who could find no time for a written statement would meet
the committee and answer questions. In this fashion hardly a prominent
man or woman went uninterrogated.

That
desperate matter of catching the correct personal equation was riot left
to any one individual, but was attempted by the committee as a whole. This
is perhaps not the right place to speak of the luncheons and dinners of
the committee. and it is certainly not the right place in which to mention
the names of its guests, but so essential a part of the committee's work
must not go unmentioned, since the idea of entertaining and interrogating
historical material was perhaps never tried on so general and so social
a scale before.

When
at last the vast mass of a ton and three-quarters of material had been
assembled and concentrated at Berkeley, the task of segregating and classifying
it had to be undertaken. Filing cases and card catalogue drawers were purchased
and a staff of University of California undergraduates was organized.

At
one time or another eleven men were employed at this work. Slowly the material
was sifted and began to disappear into the filing cases. An elaborate index
was compiled and a definite system of cross referencing established. The
work was slow but thorough.

CLASSIFICATION
A BIG TASK

Every
now and then new pieces of historical material would appear and gradually
dissolve into their proper places. The cutting up, classifying and indexing
about thirty-six thousand newspapers was a gigantic task. Again and again
the same material had to be worked over as new uses for it appeared. The
extending of the work outside of San Francisco had to be taken up. Agents
had to be sent to Fort Bragg, Santa Rosa and San Jose.

Attempts
had to be made to fill up gaps, particularly in the history of the relief
work undertaken outside of San Francisco. Fraternal organizations had to
be approached again and again, but generally in vain, Both organizations
and individuals grew weary of being reminded of April, 1906, and a reaction
showed itself from the glad readiness with which the first advances of
the committee had been met. The general public got interested in other
things and wished to forget the earthquake and the fire.

New
alignments took place; the heroes of April and May, 1906, ceased to be
heroes; new officials came into office and a new spirit began to show itself.
Here and there, indeed, light came from unexpected quarters. As, for instance,
in the testimony given in some of the great insurance cases upon the actual
outbreak and upon the progress of the fire. But the committee at last resolved
that it could wait no longer for further material.

WORK
OF WRITING BEGINS

Nothing
can be perfect in this world, and the history of the earthquake and fire
in San Francisco could certainly not be perfect, and so it was required
to go almost without waiting for further information and upon the basis
of what had already been acquired. All that was possible had been done;
the relief corporation had supported the history committee, which had been
founded by its predecessor, the Committee of Fifty; the Red Cross had likewise
accepted the committee as its history committee; and the time had come
to write and to close the work of collecting material.

At
an early date the committee had perceived that the work fell into four
general divisions, the earthquake of April 18th, the fire of April 18th
to 21st, the emergency government of the city under the advice of the Committee
of Fifty and the Committee of Forty; and the emergency relief work until
the army gave up charge upon July 2, 1906.

All
the historical material collected has been segregated under these four
heads. The geological features of the earthquake itself had been examined
by experts of the Carnegie institution and it was resolved only to enumerate
its conclusions and to supplement the work of the field of science by printing
some of the personal impressions that had been received and by attempting
to deal with the "human interest" of the earthquake.

FIRE
STORY TOLD LIKE A BATTLE

The
arrangement of the second part, upon the fire, was far more difficult.
It was only after long and arduous work that L.
J. Kennedy, who has been for more than eighteen months working exclusively
on the fire material, was able faithfully to mark its stages and perceive
a rational method of treating it. It was resolved to handle it like an
account of a modern battle with charts and plans showing its progress.

The
problems of fire fighting by water and by dynamite had to be taken tip
one by one in the different parts of the city; the firemen's reports had
to be collated; the number of primary fires and their location had to be
established; the merging of the sporadic fires into the general fires had
to be methodically worked out, the various technical questions had to be
solved.

Admirable
special reports, for instance, upon the saving of the Appraisers' building,
were found to be of the greatest value, and by degrees order came out of
the chaos shown by a first inspection of the material upon the fire. The
study of the emergency government of the city was made comparatively easy
by the admirable work of Rufus P. Jennings, which has been already mentioned,
and the handling of the emergency relief work becomes comparatively simple
after the Army took hold, from the clear reports published by Major-General
A. W. Greely.

The
emergency relief in the city during the first few days is not so easy to
describe, but its general lines appear clearly from the material already
analyzed. The relief work done outside the city, however, and done by many
of the fraternal organizations, cannot possibly receive adequate treatment
through the lack of necessary material.

LAPSE
OF TIME AN ADVANTAGE

Certain
things emerge very clearly after two years spent in the midst of historical
material accumulated for a definite historical purpose. The lapse of time
brings a certain perspective and matters which did not seem at the time
very wonderful appear very wonderful now. There is an advantage, therefore,
in this lapse of time, which has made it more possible not only to appreciate
the historical material itself, but its general bearing.

Observe
for instance this conclusion arrived at after prolonged study and meditation.
Every great disaster that has overwhelmed or nearly overwhelmed a great
city has been accompanied by or immediately followed by at least one and
generally by all three of the following afflictions, a great outbreak of
disease, a great outbreak of crime and a great financial and commercial
crisis. None of these things occurred in San Francisco. There was no epidemic,
and the members of the sanitary commission and the men who worked with
them, perhaps from their untheatrical way of doing that work, never received
the mead of credit due to them. Fortunately the papers classified and submitted
to the Earthquake History Committee by Colonel Torney, supplemented by
personal contributions of information from Dr. Foster and Dr. Ward, will
make it possible for the history committee to present an authentic and,
to use a French phrase, "well-documented" account of the successful battle
against disease. The climate of San Francisco deserves its share of credit
also, for where else in the whole world would it have been possible for
so large a part of the population to retain their health under such open
air conditions?

CITY
FREE FROM CRIME

The
remarkable freedom of the city. from crime. is the next noteworthy feature
of those days of crisis, The idea has been spread abroad of a carnival
of crime in San Francisco following upon the great fire, as in truth an
outbreak of desperate crime has been observed in all other cities after
such a tremendous catastrophe, from the days of the earthquakes of Constantinople
and Antioch, as recorded by Gibbon, to the days of the earthquake in Lisbon
in 1755.

The
documents in the possession of the history committee show clearly the absence
of crime in the months of April and May, 1906, and the character of the
people of San Francisco was a contributing force towards this absence of
crime as was the climate of San Francisco towards the absence of disease.
The skillful handling of the business situation must likewise have its
share of praise and it can fortunately be amply described from the documents
in the possession of the history committee.

A
special heading in the forthcoming book of the Earthquake History Committee
will be given to the legends that have arisen and clustered about the story
of the great catastrophe, Some of those legends are old friends which always
crop up when any disaster befalls a city from sack or pillage, from fire
or flood, such as the tale of the capture of ghouls with their pockets
full of human fingers and human ears, which had been
cut off by brutal ruffians in search of rings and earrings.

MYTHICAL
STORIES ARE CURRENT

Of
course nothing of the kind occurred in San Francisco, but the old Medieval
story was certain to get into circulation and on this occasion it seems
to have started from a refugee tale told in Salt Lake City. Why any person,
ghoul or ruffian or what-such, should be such an idiot as to carry ears
and fingers about with him on purpose that he might be convicted, when
he could so easily take the rings or earrings off, after he had mutilated
his victims, is one of those things that no man can ever understand.

The
various stories of shooting by the soldiers and by civilians have grown
in the imaginations of some legend makers out of a scant five or six into
hundreds and thousands. The death list from the earthquake itself has likewise
been exaggerated into absurd proportions. But the most beautiful and most
specious legend of all is that which has already been cited of the fierce
fight which took place between the Chinese and the Italians in Portsmouth
Square, a fight which certainly ought to have come off, and which was most
brilliantly described, but which of course never happened at all.

CITY
IS IMPERISHABLE

This
number of the San Francisco "Examiner" celebrates the second anniversary
of the great earthquake and the great fire that followed it, and is devoted
to showing the way in which the people of San Francisco have rebuilt their
city and recovered from their overthrow. The historian, whose eyes are
fixed upon the past and whose business it is to record as truly as may
be the events, the spirit, the atmosphere of the past, may surely be allowed
to conclude this account of labors undertaken to record what is past by
bearing his testimony to what has been accomplished since the period of
which he writes.

San
Francisco is imperishable; she is not made of bricks and mortar or reinforced
concrete; she is a temperament, a sunny, vivacious temperament, which with
gay courage faces great disaster and overcomes it and which rebuilds with
courage of heart what she saw burn up with gayety of heart.

Her
temperament cannot be analyzed, it can only be felt; we can admire her
for what she is doing in the present to build up again her homes, her hotels,
her office buildings and her stores, but we love her for the way in which
she met with undaunted courage and with a bright smile the disaster of
two years ago, which would have crushed into eternal depression any other
city upon the face of the globe.